A view about Manston Airport from Sir Roger Gale, 2nd November 2016

“At a meeting in Beltinge Village Hall convened by the Herne Bay Town Crier last week the lead item was the future of Manston Airport. While in local authority terms this is the responsibility of Thanet District Council it has, of course, very specific implications for the Bay as well as for the United Kingdom.

I have received, as have local District and County Councillors, Councillor, the first response of RiverOak, the American-based company seeking to acquire the airport and to re-open it, to a recently commissioned report and the Local Plan process. It makes interesting reading and it kicks the bottom out of the pretence that the commissioning of the report on the viability of Manston was anything other but an expensive and cynical exercise designed to pave the way for Cllr. Wells` ambition to abandon his election pledge to see Manston re-opened as a fully-fledged airport and, with the support of the Leader of Kent County Council but not of a majority of his Members, to pave the way for a revised local plan re-designating the airfield for overspill housing for Londoners – which is what inevitably a housing estate would become – and for industrial use for which there is no demand and already an excess of land.

Writing to the Chief Executive of Thanet Council those acting for RiverOak say:

“We are concerned that the Council may be about to take significant decisions about the future of the airport in a clandestine manner and on the basis of a report that is not robust, has not been tested or consulted upon and is indeed inaccurate, inadequate and misleading”.

An initial assessment of the Avia solutions report indicates, for example, that their estimate of cargo demand is “in direct conflict with the conclusions of at least six respected studies showing considerable unmet and future demand for dedicated air freight” and that there is “no demand for air cargo to or from new destinations for 34 years”. It also makes the assumption that “Manston will reopen in the same configuration as before” when in fact the authors of the report were fully aware that RiverOak intends to invest in the region of £150 million to increase aircraft handling capacity.

I have said publicly many times that the UK is losing cargo business now on a multi-million pounds a week basis, to mainland European airports and with Brexit and the need to develop markets further afield in Asia and the Far East there will be further demand still for dedicated air freight. That business will go either to Frankfurt, Schiphol and Charles de Gaulle airports or it will come to Manston. There is no alternative. Even with the announced development of Heathrow, which I welcome, there will be no wheels on new runway tarmac in the South east for at least fifteen years and by that time demand will have grown still further.

What is as worrying as the lack of understanding reflected in the Avia report, however, is the still greater lack of transparency and democratic process within the Leadership of Thanet District Council. As RiverOak has indicated publicly there was a private briefing for Councillors about the report on 17th October and which Avia presented their “conclusions” to Members. Neither the agenda for nor the minutes of that meeting have been published. “The evidence of pre-determination by the Council and its individual members and lack of regard for proper due process” is indeed of great concern. It is also a process to which no self-respecting professional Council Officer should be party and may well end up either with the Local Government Ombudsman or Judicial review.

Local authorities – District and County – are fully aware that RiverOak is in conversation with the Planning Inspectorate and that that company intends to apply, in the National interest, for a Development Consent Order for the re-opening of Manston as a freight hub and subsequently passenger airport. That process is currently being delayed by those at present in control of the site and who are denying to the company the access necessary to complete the final stages of their Environmental Survey – a survey which, ironically, would also have to be carried out before the airfield could be granted planning consent for any alternative use.

As part of the DCO process there has to be not only a study into the environmental aspects of the airport which, as RiverOak`s spokesman explained to the Beltinge meeting, will include a house-by-house study of noise and air pollution and flightpaths, but also of proposed flying hours and a comprehensive business plan, all of which will be open to public scrutiny and investigation before the inspector makes a recommendation to the Secretary of State. The Company that the Leaders of Kent and Thanet have tried to suggest has no resources is already committing many millions of pounds to the process of acquisition prior to the investing of eye-watering sums to transform Manston Airport into the facility that the United Kingdom so desperately needs. Responsible, reputable and visionary local authorities truly serving the public interest would get behind such a project rather than seeking, for whatever parochial interest, to frustrate it.”

As you are part of the Government you represent and as we all know about the trade we are losing to Frankfurt Schiphol and others why for Gods sake don’t those in higher places get off there you know what and do something about it before it is to late, are they so blind they can not see, do your Gales View get to the people that make the decision that is the point.
Mrs Busby

Freight or passengers, the infrastructure (roads and rail etc) is in place, so let’s keep Manston as an airport and not use as a housing estate. Manston has a very long runway and could also be used should an emergency arise with a plane either leaving or returning to the UK. So much farming land in east Kent has been lost to housing and sooner or later there will be no countryside left. An airport will offer employment which is much needed and reduce travelling to either Gatwick, Stansted or Heathrow for passengers. To me it’s a no brainer.

Thanet needs inward investment and regeneration. Young adults need local employment opportunities and career prospects without having to relocate outside the region.

There are various proposals to build new homes across How many empty properties are there in the existing housing stock capable of being refurbished and brought back to market. Why is TDC, apparently supported by KCC, so hell bent on contributing to the London Borough of Thanet.

Let Manston go now and we will never see it again as an airfield. RO are prepared to invest hundreds of millions of pounds because they can see a long term financial return for their investors. Avia dismisses the commercial viability of Manston yet overlook the fact that it is not public or taxpayers monies that are at risk.

Objectors point to pollution. What about the regular plumes of dense black smoke generated by the Fire Training School. Just the thing new residents will appreciate!

It has been suggested that TDC is being run by the employed officers and abetted by a cabal of cabinet councillors, led by Chris Wells. He has not served the electorate well. If he cannot deliver on the election promises he made in May 20 15, he should stand down as too should others. How can one trust a council leader who overlooks paying his council tax bill. Try forgetting youself and see how quickly TDC demands full settlement of the year’s account.

Manston is a local, regional and also a national asset. Let’s keep it and develop it .. .. .. but not for housing.